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Monday, May 30, 2011

I hope you enjoyed your long Memorial Day weekend and that you took the time to reflect upon it's true meaning... Cakewrecks (a site that cracks me up!) usually posts hilarious, gone-oh-s0-terribly-wrong cakes. But yesterday they posted some beautiful cakes made in honor of Memorial Day. Click here to see them~they really are beautiful.

We had a busy but productive weekend. Brittany and Emma drove to Long Island to spend the weekend with Rick's sister and her kids. Although her kids are really Brittany's cousins, they are much closer in age to Emma, so we just tell Emma they are her cousins. While they were gone, Rick and I tackled a lot of household chores (cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, yard work, etc). I also managed to squeeze in tons of scrapbooking time and we went to see The Pirates of the Caribbean with Keaton (loved it!). I also watched every Red Sox game as well as the Stanley Cup playoff games. Go Sox!!! Go Briuns!!!

My sweetheart didn't get the extra day off. Instead, he flew from Boston to San Francisco to Tokyo to Seoul. In stark contrast, I spent the entire day scrapbooking (I completed thirteen 2-page layouts this weekend!), then made pizza with my two favorite girls. I took photos of all of my scrapbook pages, but none of them turned out well. :( I will retake them tomorrow. In the meantime, here are two more cards I made.

I LOVE this card! I cannot take any credit for it whatsoever~I totally "borrowed" the idea from my creative muse, Miss Christy. You can see hers here. I like the idea of a "collage" card. It's a totally different look. Doesn't this card just scream romance? Now if I could just get to Paris...

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Okay, maybe not a full deck, but definitely quite a few! The first four were made with the same SU Stamp (Both Way Blossoms) and Basic Grey Sweet Threads DP. No, it's not your eyes~the photo of the first one is out of focus, but I didn't realize that until after I had mailed the card. I'm posting it anyway because I love the Spring colors.

I wanted these hydrangeas to have light purple/blue tips, but when I blended the colors they turned out dark purple. I had already assembled the card by that point, so I left it as is. Besides, I sent it to someone who loves purple as much as I do.

My friend, Robyn, is a teacher in CO. Today is her last day of school. This is what I envision her doing tonight! This cute stamp is Brigitte by Kraftin' Kimmie. The luscious papers and ribbon are all by PTI.

Yup, this is also for my friend who loves purple! (I am so glad I have a friend who loves purple as much as I do~what elese would I do with my huge stash of purple paper? LOL) This cute little stamp and sentiment are called Earl Grey Peep by Stamping Bella. Everything else is by PTI. I painted the cup and saucer with Liquid Glass to give them a ceramic look.

I have a few more to post, but I need to find the photos. So this will do for now.

The weather here has been gorgeous! Yesterday, Emma and I played with bubbles outside. Do you know how fun it is to be 48 and feel totally justified buying a gallon of bubbles and tons of little bubble wands? LOL Maybe today we'll draw on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and then play on the swing set. Emma loves to swing "super, duper high and fast!" just like her Giffy! Oh my, how I LOVE that little girl!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Last week, sweet Miss Emma had a cold which she shared with me. My throat and head were sore all weekend and now I have the alternating sneezy/stuffy nose. Hopefully, it will decide to move along quickly. Unfortunately, it will probably move right right along to Rick. Basically, I didn't accomplish a single thing over the weekend~unless you consider napping and doing a whole lot of nothing to be accomplishments. Ha ha! Oh, I did watch three Red Sox games, which is always fun. I also managed to order a slew of photos so that I can do a ton of scrapbooking over Memorial Day weekend.

My sweetheart, however, accomplished a lot. When we bought this house, the builder had planted the ugliest plants along the front porch. When I say ugly, I mean UGLY. But there have always been a million other projects with higher priority, so the plants have been left alone to grown uglier over the last 8 years, except for the annual pruning and reshaping. This weekend, Rick ripped them all out and planted hydrangeas and azaleas for me! I am so excited! Yup, he's a sweetheart. Think I'll keep him around for at least another 31 years! :)

At any rate, I did make a few cards before the cold struck. My friend, Robyn, has been nicknamed "Bird" by her family (Robyn, bird, get it?). This stamp set, You're So Tweet, just screamed "Robyn" to me! They're hard to see in this photo, but there are little birds on the background paper (Basic Grey's Pyrus).

As a teacher, I know I shouldn't have any favorite students. But every once in a awhile, a child came along and touched my heart in a special way. Way back in 2001, Gracie was in my 3rd grade class, and in my class again the next year when I taught a 3 and 4th grade combo class. I moved that year to MA, but saw Gracie four years ago when I visited CO. Anyway, she just graduated from high school! Inside her announcement, she wrote that I am still her favorite teacher ever. How sweet is that?! I made this card for her graduation, using her school's colors. Not too fancy, but the colors look better in real life than in this photo. The bright spot in the upper right corner is actually a glittery gold dot as seen in the lower left corner. I still can't believe Gracie has graduated. Funny how she grew up yet I haven't aged a bit. LOL

My friend, Christy, is now living in England. She's a tea drinker, so I hope she's found a treasure trove of new teas to enjoy! This stamp is called Earl Grey Peep (by Stamping Bella)~and of course it made me think of Christy. I spread Liquid Glass over the teacup and saucer to give it that shiny china look.

That's it for now. Time to go nurse this cold. Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

I keep forgetting to post pictures of recent cards, so here are a few. This was the card I made for Mother's Day. I copied this idea from Amber Hight, though I didn't come close to replicating her masterpiece, which you can see here.

I love this paper from SU! It's called Springtime Vintage.

The flower is part of SU's Of the Earth set.

This was for a special friend. I love this SU stamp set called Soft Summer.

My sweet friend, Paloma, will be celebrating her birthday towards the end of the month. I made this for her using MFT's Blooming Good Day stamp set.

My adorable little niece, Camryn, is turning 2! I made her this little princess card for her birthday. This is a retired stamp set by SU called Pretty Princess.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Emma figured out that I am stitching her a new Cherished Teddies bear each month, and she asked if she could choose the rest of them. The only problem is that she wants them all, and there are about 50! This is the one she chose for May. Isn't she cute?

Monday, May 16, 2011

Brittany popped into her school's prom so that Emma could see all of the girls in their pretty dresses. Brittany said Emma is the best prom date she ever had! LOL (I married my prom date!)

This is Emma's idea of "fancy jammies!"

Brittany took Emma to the zoo on Saturday. Here's Emma imitating the monkeys! LOL

This has nothing to do with proms or jammies or the zoo, but since this post is solely about Emma, here's a funny conversation between the two of us.

Emma: "Giiffy, I know what I really want to give you for your birthday."

Me: "Wow, you know already? My birthday isn't until the end of the summer."

Emma: "Well, I want to take you out for tea. I know you love to do that, and I love to go to tea, too."

Me: "Oh, that will be a great present, Emma! You're right, I love to go to tea with you."

Emma: "I wanted to give it to you for Mother's Day, but Mommy wouldn't let me. She said I can't give you the same present for every Mother's Day and birthday, but I think she's wrong. Oh, and Giffy, can you forget that we talked about this so that it will be a surprise on your birthday?"

Me: "Okay, Emma, I'll try to forget about it."

Emma: "You can do it, Giffy! You forget everything!"

From the mouths of babes...or at least from the mouth of this silly little monkey!

Friday, May 13, 2011

I posted this on Wednesday, and it appeared briefly until Blogger crashed and stayed crashed until a few hours ago. My mother must have thought I died! LOL But I talked to her last night for an hour, so she knows I'm still kickin'.

For Mother's Day, Emma made her own card for me. She just learned how to draw flowers, so she drew a whole garden of them for me!

Emma's room is decorated with daisies and ladybugs. Ladybugs have become our "thing." Emma has quite a collection of ladybug purses, stuffed animals, etc. Emma gave me the ladybug charm for my Pandora bracelet. She also gave me the book Ladybug Girl, which is an adorable story. The best part, however, is Emma's inscription. She wrote it by herself, and yes it made me cry!

Here she is being silly!

In keeping with our trip to the Boston Garden, my kids stuck with the "Mom loves tulips" theme, and I'm so glad they did! Keaton sent me this beautiful bouquet of tulips and purple irises, which I also love. (I had a backyward full of them in Colorado).

Brittany and Brennan gave me the tulip charm for my Pandora bracelet, a tulip scented candle, and nail polish called "Dutch Tulips." Guess that means I simply must get a pedicure! Of course, Emma will want to go with me, and you know I'll take her!

Emma made this very glittery card for Mommy.

She is so proud of her inscription: "E heart M" for "Emma loves Mommy." Too sweet!

Emma gave Mommy a new Pandora bracelet (a color called Champagne) and chose three charms for her: the little girl, the bird (because, according to Emma, birds are always happy, especially in the Disney Princess movies, LOL), and the special Mother's Day charm.

It is so sweet that Brennan and Keaton give Brittany a Mother's Day gift every year. How many brothers do that? Brittany and Emma love to go camping. My boys gave her a queen sized air mattress and car pump. Check out Emma's reaction when Brittany told her they no longer have to sleep on the ground when they camp~too funny!

My sweet SIL, Kristin, made this beautiful card for me and Brittany. We like it so much that I had to find the stamp on eBay.

My dear, sweet friend, Christy (the one who lived in Okinawa and was my personal kokeshi doll shopper, and who now lives in England), made this beautiful card in my favorite color. She also sent me this beautiful bone china box for my collection~with purple roses! (Christy just commented on this post~she said she knew the box was mine as soon as she saw it. Is she not the sweetest?)

Every year, my sweet husband gives me a Mother's Day present. This year, he started a Caribbean-themed Pandora bracelet for me while we were on our cruise. In Puerto Rico, he bought me the pearlized Champagne bracelet (it looks like sand), palm trees with gold coconuts, the frog (Puerto Rico's National Animal), the seashell with a gold sea star, the blue bead with silver swirls, and two turquoise glass Murano beads (not Pandora) because they look like the Caribbean waters. He bought me the dolphin in Aruba. Then we added the octopus (beacuase we actually saw four of them while we were snorkling in Aruba), the flip flop (what other shoes do you need in the Caribbean?), and the blue Murano bead with the white hearts because I LOVE the Caribbean. Isn't it pretty?

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! On Friday, I surprised Brittany and Emma with pedicures. Here's Emma's reaction when I asked her if she would like to get one.

On Sunday, we drove into Boston for brunch, which was yummy! You know, of course, that I love to take photos through tree branches. So get ready: almost every picture I took has a tree branch in it! LOL The real reason we went into Boston was to see the tulips (my favorite flower) in the Boston Garden. They are absolutely stunning! It was a beautiful, sunny day. Mom, I sure do wish you had been here!

I love the dew drops on this one!

My beautiful girls!

Me and my little sweetheart!

Me and my BFF.

Aren't these ruffled edges cool?

These are various shots of the garden, some with the city skyline in the background.

Emma loves to feed the ducks and the swans! This is the setting for the book Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.

Check out the look on Emma's face~she was tired of posing for pictures! LOL

Aren't we stylin' in our shades?

Tomorrow I'll post the pictures of our celebration at home. Wishing you a very happy Wednesday!